Having a CNC Router is awesome. Having to constantly clean up shavings is not. To more cleanly operate the X-Carve we decided to go ahead and print a dust shoe to attach a vacuum to. This would allow us to suck up all the shavings and dust as the machine operates and keep the work space cleaner. Searching online we found a design that could be easily printed and attached to the spindle. However, once we printed it we had concerns that the shape of this part would interfere with clamps and thus reduce the overall cutting area we had access to. Considering this, we decided to design our own system for sucking up the mess.

Our first attempt had the hose running through two circular brackets, however, once placed on the X-Carve we realized that there would still be clearance issues. After mocking up several ideas, we realized that the original mount could be easily zip tied to and the hose would be no longer interfering with the cut space. We decided to carve out a phone holder to test out the new system. After cutting the holder out we found that there wasn’t enough directionality in the hose, so directly underneath it would be clear but everywhere else would still get covered in dust. To solve this issue we will be designing a nozzle to fit to the tube that will get the suction force closer to the spindle, hopefully solving our issues.

I am in the very beginning stages of design so there are still a lot of things that can change. I started with the initial physical design of the Bot. So, pieces such as the base, linkages, and the motor extensions are being drafted in Solidworks. After much thought the base of the Sketch Bot is going to be redesigned for more support and stability. The linkages of the Sketch Bot will uphold the original design that we have. It is imperative that the linkages of the Bot are a light-weight design. This helps with the mechanical stress that the motor would have to endure. The theory is that the less mechanical stress the servos must endure, the more accurate the drawing or picture will be.

Project Summary

The Sketch Bot would be able to draw any image that would be uploaded to Microsoft Paint. The Bot would be controlled via arduino, and the arduino would be coded with an algorithm that would be able to read the paint file of the user’s choice. All of the physical components of the Bot would be made out of PLA plastic that would be made by a 3D printer. Arduino programming and Matlab would be used to construct the code for the algorithm to be uploaded to the arduino unit. A long term goal for the Sketch Bot would be able to draw any image on different surfaces.